Top Ten Linguists of the World

Directions: You and your partner will choose one of the following Linguists and create a 15-20 minute lesson on him. Your presentation can take any form you want; however, you must include a brief biography and explain the Linguist’s major studies. You may include videos of experts – including the Linguist himself – explaining the theories, but I need to see that you have tried to understand the theories.

1. Noam Chomsky (1928 - ) – Father of Modern Linguistics. American born of Polish descent. Proponent of generative (transformational grammar) linguistics; known for Universal Grammar (UG), and the Language Acquisition Device (LAD); believes language is innate; he is the field’s most influential practitioner. PhD in Linguistics, moved to philosophy and political/social issues.

2. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) – Swiss; Father of Modern Structural Linguistics; semiotics (interested in the signs and symbols of language); PhD in Linguistics and Philology. Is known for his research in thought and sound—how they are connected.

3. Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) – Known for founding The Prague School of linguistics and the study of language; Russian born; created the field of phonology (the study of speech sounds and describing sound systems); first to coin or use the term “structural linguistics.” Studied for his PhD in Oriental Languages at Moscow State University, moved to Prague due to political danger and never was granted a degree. Went on to be a professor of linguistics at Harvard and MIT. He was part of the post-war intellectual movement of Eastern Europe. Also influenced linguistic anthropology.

4. David Crystal (1941 - ) – his field is Global English; his passion is preserving languages; a British scholar with a PhD in Survey of English; was a linguistics professor and is now retired. He has written over 100 books. He now focuses on Internet English and “texting English.”

5. Umberto Eco (1932 - ) – Italian semiotics (signs and symbols); philosopher, novelist, PhD in Aesthetics; is interested in the connection of language as literary theory relates to art; bestselling novel, The Name of the Rose. He is interested in the philosophy of language and meaning.

6. George Lakoff (1942 - ) – American; Rhetoric/Metaphor; cognitive linguistics; language is conceptual; PhD in linguistics; researches in the areas of language and the mind. He is a professor at the University of California (Berkley). Is interested in the relationship between language and math.

7. Edward Sapir (1884-1939) – structural linguist; German born but immigrated to the U.S.; created with his student the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (language influences culture); is arguably the most influential figure in American linguistics; has influenced two generations of linguists across several schools of the discipline; PhD in anthropology. His passion is preserving Native American languages; is also very interested in thought and language relationships.

8. Joseph H. Greenberg (1915-2001) – focused on language universals; known as a functionalist; most famous for linguistic typology; very empirical in his research; common thought: if a language has a noun, then it must have a verb…universals in language; American; PhD in Anthropology and African Languages. He is controversial and was a student of Roman Jakobson.

9. Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767 – 1835) – German/Prussian; creator of Humboltian Linguistics; he believed language arose spontaneously from the human spirit. He is the great grandfather of generative linguistics; a generative view of speech. He had a great impact on Norm Chomsky; believed “Language only exists in spoken discourse.” He believed languages are different just as the characteristics of human beings and each individual is different. We all have hair, but different kinds of hair. We all have eyes, but different colors and shapes; believed language in each human being differed in these same ways. He was an egalitarian and a great proponent of women’s rights. He studied in Rome and Paris. Education was in philosophy.

10. Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) – American but appealed to a very broad audience; approached language like a math or science; structuralist; believed language was a static system of interconnected units. Looked for a scientific and quantitative approach to language. A proponent of behaviorism.